Americaâ€™s Navy is stronger, smaller, more dominant, more vulnerable and more lethal than at any time since World War I. So, for those confused by dueling candidates on the topic during Monday nightâ€™s presidential debate, hope thatâ€™s cleared up things.

If not, itâ€™s because determining naval strength, while never simple, is exceedingly complicated in these complicated times. All-of-the-above answers can be easily found among those who study the U.S. Navy. Sometimes, a single expert will voice many of the contradictions in the same statement.

For what theyâ€™re worth, the raw numbers: The U.S. Navy today has 286 ships. In 1916 it had 245, and by 1917, 342. By the end of World War II, it had 6,768 ships. At the height of the Cold War in 1987, the Navy boasted 594 ships. The recent low point came in 2007 when it had 278 ships.

For what itâ€™s worth, in 1886, the Navy had only 38 ships, the most common of which were â€œscrew sloops.â€ The modern Navy doesnâ€™t list any screw sloops.

But when looking at the numbers, Jacob Stokes, a researcher at the Center for a New American Security, notes that itâ€™s important to remember that when the U.S. force reached its peaks, there was always a similarly armed foe: Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union.

â€œToday, we donâ€™t have a peer competitor,â€ he notes. U.S. naval superiority today is unquestioned. No other nation has more than two operational aircraft carriers. The United States has 11, and the other nations with two are Italy and Spain. China, the frequent foil in this discussion, just launched its first carrier but does not yet have planes capable of landing on it, and it does not yet have a single â€œcarrier battle group.â€

â€œChina wonâ€™t be showing up on the California coast anytime soon,â€ Stokes said.